SOCIAL MEDIA IN EDUCATION; A BOON OR A BANE

The use of social media in education provides students with the ability to get more useful information,
to connect with learning groups and other educational systems that make education convenient. Social
network tools afford students and institutions with multiple opportunities to improve learning methods
(M.sasikala, et. Al, 2021).

With the statistic research of Loveless (2023), currently, there are more than 3.6 billion social media
users worldwide. And this number is projected to increase by 0.81 billion by 2025.

 Loveless, Becton (2023). Is Social Media Good or Bad for Students?. Retrieve from
https://www.educationcorner.com/is-social-media-good-or-bad-for-students/
 M.sasikala, et. al(2021). Effectiveness of Social Media in Education. Retrieve from
https://turcomat.org/index.php/turkbilmat/article/view/5491.

According to Global Campus (2021), Social media shapes and presents information in a way that makes
sense to and excites students more than traditional tools do, whether it's through a shared article with
comment functionality, a livestream of an important event, a survey related to course materials, or a
question posed to the broader community. Via social media news feeds, students can find informational
and relevant websites they want to follow so as to be kept in the loop Willbold (2019).

 Global Campus, (December 9, 2021). Using Social Media for Learning. Retrieve from
https://www.uagc.edu/blog/using-social-media-as-a-learning-tool.

While there are several benefits of social media for students, some banes are hard to neglect. Based on
the research of Mehta (2020), one factor of using social media in education is that, social media easily
distracts students and shifts their focus while taking lessons. It is not uncommon for teachers to ask
students to not use their phones in classes. Moreover, with social media, students are not spending
enough time reading - a habit that helps in visualization. Social media is highly addictive, it is a proven
fact that people develop screen dependency and get addicted to social media sites, Kashmir (2022).

Looking at the study of Xhen and Xiao (2022) on “The Effect of Social Media on the Development of
Students’ Affective Variables”, the cognitive repertoire and mental capacity of students might become
limited and they might lose their concentration during their learning process. On the other hand, it
should be noted that by feeling positive, learners might take full advantage of the affordances of the
social media and; thus, be able to follow their learning goals strategically.

 Mehta, Kriti (2020). Social Media, A Boon or Bane for Student?. Retrieve from
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.timesnownews.com/amp/technology-science/article/
social-media-a-boon-or-bane-for-students/574663.
 Kashmir, R (2022). Social Media, A Boon or a Bane. Retrieve from
http://risingkashmir.com/social-media-a-boon-or-a-bane.
 Xhen and Xiao, (2022). The of Social Media on the Development of Students’ Affective Variables
Effect. Retrieve from https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1010766/full.